When news broke that Jarrett Stidham would be taking over for injured quarterback Bo Nix, and starting the AFC Championship game against the Patriots Sunday, Devin McCourty couldn’t help but drop a quick text.
McCourty wanted to take a playful jab at his former Patriots teammate and remind him of their time in Foxborough when Stidham was the scout team quarterback going against the Patriots starting defense.
“I texted Stiddy when I saw the news,” said McCourty, who serves as a commentator for NBC’s Football Night in America. “I DM’d him on Instagram. I always used to joke with him and say in practice: ‘Hey, you know who to find. Find your favorite target, No. 32.’
“I just said, ‘Hey, if you need me, I’ll throw on a No. 32 jersey’ and he texted me back laughing.”
McCourty said Stidham, who hasn’t thrown a pass in a regular-season or playoff game since starting the final two contests in 2023, wouldn’t be a pushover. He can throw the football.
“He’s what every teams wants in a backup quarterback,” McCourty said. “He’s a smart guy, very similar to how (Brian) Hoyer was. He knows everything, where everyone’s supposed to go. The guys love him. I think that’s how it was when he was in New England.
“I think it’s obvious that’s what it is in Denver. It’s one of the first moves Sean Payton did, was sign Stidham back and keep him there. I think that speaks volumes.”
Patriots coach Mike Vrabel indicated Monday the Patriots had looked into signing Stidham as the backup to Drake Maye. Only Stidham returned to the Mile High city.
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His only action has come in practice and the preseason, where defenses are playing “vanilla” as McCourty termed it.
The former Patriots great, however, said Broncos coach Payton would get after defensive coordinator Vance Joseph because Stidham was “killing them in practice.”
“I do think Stidham will go into the game with a little bit of confidence coming from (playing against) that defense,” McCourty said.
The Patriots, of course, will do their best to put him through the wringer.
“What I love about the Patriots defense this year, it reminds me so much of what we used to be. You really don’t know what they’re going to run,” McCourty said. “You don’t know if it’s going to be a bunch of zone, a bunch of man-blitz, zone blitz. They do so many different things.
“As much as (Stidham) knows a lot of that, and he’s seen it before, seeing it full speed in the playoffs for the first time in months, I think he’s going to have to get acclimated and get back into it, but the advantage he’s going to have is playing at home. That’s going to create a better environment than if he had to come to play in Foxborough.”
What the Broncos lose with not having Nix is his mobility and ability to roll out and make plays. And make plays in key situations.
“They’re going to lose his instinctive, clutch play-making fourth quarter,” McCourty said of Nix. “I think Stidham can keep them in the game, and then hope the defense makes a play, or somebody makes a play for them to win the game. I think that’s still possible for Denver without Bo Nix.”
